ISL 2016: Javi Lara’s goal gives Atlético de Kolkata an away win over Kerala Blasters !

Atletico de Kolkata defeated Kerala Blasters 1-0 to mark their first win in the third season of the ISL.

What promised to be a battle between two of the largest football crazy states of the nation – lived up to the name. Backed by a massive home crowd, Kerala displayed a strong defensive strategy to prevent Atletico from scoring in the first half. 

The visitors looked threatening with some teasing crosses into the box by Javi Lara, but Kerala's defense had the answers to every attack.

There was some great display of skill from Graham Stack – Kerala's goalkeeper who kept the visitor's at bay. The home side came back into the game with back to back attempts from Antonio German and Mohammed Rafique but the match saw no goals in the first half.

The second half saw both the teams desperately trying to take the lead. Javi Lara finally broke the deadlock and opened the scoring for Kolkata in the 50th minute of the game. The Spaniard brilliant shot towards the bottom right corner resulted in a goal.

The home side came within inches of scoring with just a couple of minutes on the clock when a superb shot from Hengbart went just wide of the goal.

But ultimately, it was Atletico de Kolkata who came out on top as the referee blew the full-time whistle.

With the win, Kolkata climbed to the second on the table with four points, falling two points short of the leaders, Northeast United. Kerala Blasters' bad form continued having already lost their season opener against Northeast United.